We Choose to go to Mars

The Martian environment, and a bit of politics

The Martian environment is harsh. Temperatures vary between -153C and 5C. The atmosphere is 0.6% as thick as Earth’s, and primarily made of carbon dioxide. A large amount of solar and cosmic radiation hits the surface constantly, and meteorites are a major threat.

But it gets worse. As it turns out, the real problems with the Martian environment, and space in general, isn’t what it will do to you once you’re there. It’s what it will do to you during the journey.

Mars’s thin atmosphere is just thin enough to make using parachutes impractical for landing on their own, and is just thick enough to require that a spacecraft carries a heat shield. The thickness of Mars’s atmosphere can also fluctuate by as much as 10%, meaning performing pinpoint landings is next to impossible. The solar radiation environment during the transit between Earth and Mars is very dangerous. A solar flare could kill the crew.

But those are all problems that can be solved. The temperature can be managed with heaters and well-designed insulation. The thin atmosphere can be navigated successfully with good enough spacecraft designs. The long-term effects of solar and cosmic radiation are still largely unknown, but the threat can be mitigated with large amounts of radiation shielding. Meteorites are a real problem, but the chances of one hitting a spacecraft or base is very low.

Getting to the Moon was hard. Getting to Mars will certainly be harder. But it's not going to get easier the longer we wait. If we’re to go to Mars, we must do what the Apollo program did 50 years ago, and make a commitment right now. Only by pushing forward and no doubt making mistakes and learning from them along the way will we eventually get there.

NASA, under Administrator Jim Bridenstine's watch, has announced a firm and clear commitment to returning to the Moon by 2024, under Space Policy Directive 1 signed by President Trump on December 11, 2017. It's also part of the announcement that we will not only go back to the Moon by 2024 with permanently crewed settlements on the Lunar surface, but that we will also keep pushing on towards Mars. However, as of yet that intention has not quite solidified into a clearly defined and detailed plan of action. However, NASA's commitment to returning to the Moon by 2024, and to establish a permanently crewed settlement there is clearly making excellent progress, and with SpaceX's unwavering commitment to getting to Mars, the prospect of humans on Mars by the 2030s seams very realistic. These are indeed exciting times.

In our lifetime we have become used to knowing that there are always humans in space (on the ISS). The Moon is visible to every human being on the Earth. Imagine what it will be like in around 4 years time when we all look up at the Moon at night, and know there are humans living up there. And not just Americans, but an international community.

This will transform our perception of ourselves as a truly spacefaring species, and make the dream of humans to Mars, and our becoming a multiplanetary species, much more real to all humans, not just todays space enthusiasts and professionals.